I invite you to reject the tyranny of either/or and embrace the world of both/and. If you're short of a new year's resolution for 2014, this manifesto for profit through purpose could be a good start.

An end to either/or

We reject the tyranny of either/or and its world of trade-offs and false choices.

We believe in a world of both/and.

A world in which business is both more profitable and more sustainable.

A world in which the ultimate competitive advantage stems from creating both value for business and value for society by reconnecting strategy to delivering social progress.

A world in which intuitive right brain meets analytical left brain, both to imagine a higher social purpose for your business and then to hardwire it into the organisation.

Our beliefs

The consequences of shallow value – of profit divorced from the people and resources affected by its generation – have been exposed like never before in our lifetime.

We believe that, by weaving together brand, sustainability and design thinking, we can achieve the opposite. Deep value means putting purpose at the heart of profit and, in so doing, creating more of it.

It means uncovering and articulating a higher purpose for our businesses, and using that to guide congruent actions and behaviours.

It means maximising the primary effects of what we do, not just mopping up the unfortunate side-effects of business as usual.

It means baking our purpose into the very products and services we provide, and the way in which we conduct our daily business.

It means finding better ways to create bigger and more legitimate profit. And who wouldn't want that?

Our purpose

Our purpose is to help leaders to redesign their businesses in pursuit of deep value.

Enlightened business leaders have already recognised that looking through the lens of sustainability can open up amazing opportunities for innovation, cost reduction and increased brand equity.

It's why the likes of Michael Porter have hailed the reconnecting of business strategy to delivering social progress as the key to competitive advantage in the 21st century.

It matters to the world because …

Just as business got us into the mess we're in, it's also the only institution pervasive enough to get us out of it.

An inconvenient truth for those who would paint business as the enemy is that it's capable of concerted action across borders in a way that governments simply aren't.

Waiting for regulation to curb the excesses of the old order isn't a strategy. Accelerating the new order is. And the tide is already turning. So the choice facing every business is a simple one: continue to be part of the problem, or make it your business to be a force for good in the world.

It should matter to business because …

Having a positive social impact is the best prescription for long-term success. Leaders who infuse a higher social purpose into their businesses – their culture, their strategy, their very products and services their business provides – are inspiring dramatically higher performance.

Every leader should be able to say what their business stands for and what it should stand for, because purpose is the beating heart of an authentic, meaningful and profitable brand.

We are the new breed of sustainability advocate

What makes us different? In a word, optimism. Where others see constraints on business as usual, we see the opportunity to design something better.

For too long, sustainability has been positioned in the wrong psychological boxes. Instead of "green", "regulation" and "increased cost", the labels on our boxes read "longevity", "innovation" and "increased revenue and margin".

We're committed to generating options and applying ideas that can create value for business and value for society in one and the same act.

For us, the question isn't growth or no growth. It's what do you want to grow?